al-Sarrāj; a close associate of al-Mubarrad, and the science of language ultimately rested with him.

Those who studied under him include Abū al-Qāsim al-Zajjājī, Abū Saʿīd al-Sīrāfī, ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā al-Rummānī, and a number of others.

Al-Khaṭīb ⦗1⦘ judged him reliable.

Among his writings are: Kitāb Uṣūl al-ʿArabiyyah (The Foundations of Arabic) — and what an excellent work it is! — Kitāb Sharḥ Sībawayh (A Commentary on Sībawayh), Kitāb Iḥtijāj al-Qurrāʾ (The Proofs of the Reciters), Kitāb al-Hawāʾ wa-l-Nār (Air and Fire), Kitāb al-Jumal (Sentences), Kitāb al-Mūjaz (The Concise), Kitāb al-Ishtiqāq (Derivation), and Kitāb al-Shiʿr wa-l-Shuʿarāʾ (Poetry and Poets).

He would pronounce the letter rāʾ as though it were a ghayn.

He composed polished verse ⦗2⦘ and was devoted to singing and enjoyment; he became enamoured of Ibn Yaʾnas the minstrel, and there are many anecdotes about him—may Allah pardon him.

He died in the prime of life, in the month of Dhu al-Ḥijjah, 316 AH.

269 – al-Mālinī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh ibn Farah*

The venerable, long-lived shaykh, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh ibn Farah—some say “Farah”—al-Harawī, known as al-Mālinī.